Could Pavlik have been an atg?

I liked Pavlik a lot. He didn't have anything extraordinary but he was a hard worker and text book boxer. When he destroyed Miranda I really hopped on the band wagon.

If he could've rebounded from the Hopkins disaster I think he could've done well at Middle. A SuperFight with Paul Williams was thisclose to happening and if he had a better cutman against Sergio Martinez who knows what could've been. Maybe the Super 8 at 168 entices him to go north.

I say YES, with a little bit of bias...

 

Some people don't feel comfortable being extremely successful and derail themselves in order to feel comfortable again. Galota with his low blows and Billy Conn who was beating Louis and threw it away in the last round come to mind.

 

No.

 

I completely disagree with Conn. It wasn't fear of success that cost him.

 

he was a great entertaining fighter, but I don't see ATG in him. He was very good and could beat some good guys, but eventually elite guys will beat him up.

 

They clearly told him in his corner and kept yelling for him to dance in that last round in order to secure the win which he had earned by outpointing Louis. Instead he decided he wanted to knock Louis out. When asked why he did it he responded with.

"I thought I could knock him out! Anyway, what's the use of being Irish if you can't be stupid?"

No, I can't very well guarantee that he didn't feel comfortable with the success and responsibilities and in the new way he would need view himself if he won so his subconscious impelled him to fail. But that statement about his having the right to consider himself inherently stupid-makes me suspect it.

 

You do realise the stoppage came in the 13th? His quip about being Irish was in all likelihood a bit of a face saver.

 

Conn didnt deliberately throw it away against Louis! WTF!

 

True, it was the 13th round. Which shows that I need to stop relying on memory. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

All good mate.

 

He could of been very good. ATG is a reach. After the first two Taylor fights I thought he would have a long reign. I was in attendance for the Hopkins bout, I thought it would be a tough fight but one I thought Pavlik would win. I was shocked at how bad Hopkins made him look. Kelly was always a little clumsy but I was surprised he couldn't control range or really do anything. After that fight it was over for him. He gave Martinez a decent fight and was already in a deep slide. The Pavlik that fought Taylor would have a chance to win that fight. He basically fell off a cliff, if he didn't have issues he could of been good and in a very exciting way but I don't think he had the talent to be ATG good

 

For me his Achilles heel was his lack of hand speed.

 

Not sure about atg, but with more intelligent management and without the personal problems he could have ended up a lock for the IBHOF, which is definitely different than an atg. However, he did have some issues with injuries as well, right? I can't say for sure as he wasn't ever a favorite of mine.

The move to fight Hopkins was a disaster. If Arum had really put in the effort to land fights with Felix Sturm and Arthur Abraham that would have been a better choice (although who knows how the Abraham fight would have turned out, given Abraham's terrifying 1 punch power at 160). A focused Pavlik would have been favored against both.

Beating up those two, followed up by wins over some guys like Tony Mundine, Matthew Macklin, Daniel Geale, would have been really good in filling out his resume on the heels of his previous successes. A big $ match with Paul Williams always intrigued me.